Matthieu Vaxivière ready to kick off a busy 2014 season!

After a winter of intense preparation Matthieu Vaxivière is ready to kick off a busy 2014 season. The young French hope will be racing in the Formula Renault 3.5 series with the Lotus team.

French F4 Champion and winner in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Matthieu Vaxivière has moved up to the next level. The driver from Limoges is now competing in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in the prestigious Lotus team. Right from the start of the pre-season tests he put his black and gold car among the front-runners.

“I learned to get to know the team, the engineers and my team-mate. The latter has a completely different driving style to mine, which is very useful to help me improve,” said Matthieu. “Although the programme was pretty intense we kept on upping the pace. I acquired useful data especially during the simulations in the last few days.”

The Frenchman went all out during the winter break to be ready to take on the challenge of a category that has seen numerous drivers hit the headlines like 4-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel.

“I did a huge amount of work on my physical fitness and that’s not going to stop as I’ll continue all year. I also improved my driving and my mental state in order to progress. In testing the accent was placed on qualifying as it’s the key throughout the season.”

Despite being only 19 Vaxivière has already tried his hand in several different categories since his debut in competition. After his experience in Mijet VdeV, GT, the Porsche Carrera Cup and the Andros Trophy for Electric Cars, he is now tackling the prestigious World Endurance Championship.

“My aim is Formula 1 but it’s important to be able to create openings for yourself. From this point of view it’s great to be making my debut in the WEC. Testing went off well and I’m ready to tackle the season in a relaxed frame of mind.

“In the World Series by Renault my aim is to be the best rookie and finish in the top five in the championship. In the WEC we’ll have to keep a close eye on the evolution of the Balance of Performance, which can have a big impact on our competitiveness, but I’m confident. One thing’s sure I can’t wait to start racing.”

Vaxivière’s season kicks off this weekend with the first round of the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Monza. The following weekend he will race in the opening round of the World Endurance Championship at Silverstone, and then he’ll be back in single-seaters at Motorland Aragon at the end of the month.